Cleaning apparatus



June 24, 1930, L. c. HUFF f 1,767,795

' CLEANING APPARATUS original Filed Aug. so. 192s sheets-sheet 1 June 241930. L. c. HUFF CLEANING APPARATUS originali Filed Aug. so, 1925 .'5 Sheets-Sheep 2 June 24, 1930.l L C, HUFF 1,767,795

CLEANING APPARATUS Original` Filed Aug. 30, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet .3

Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE LYMAN C. HUFF, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH y:DAKOTA CLEANING APPARATUS Application led August 30, 1923, Serial No. 660,098.

This invention relates to improvements in a' cleaning apparatus, and refers more particularly to a.device mounted in connection with stills, retorts or chambers which must be cleaned either subsequent to or during operationin lconnection with processes where foreign or deposited materials collect and accumulate inthe chambers.

Among the salient objects of the invention are to provide an apparatus particularly adapted for use in connection with the cleaning of vaporizing chambers connected in cracking systems wherein'are deposited an' accumulated carbonaceous substances either in a solid or semi-solid state.

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the apparatus showing the vapor chamber positioned there-beneath.. Fig. 2. is a View taken along the line 2-*2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fi 4 is a detail taken along the line 4 4 in ig. 3, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged View of the upper portion of the 5 apparatus shown in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus is particularly adapted to use where there are a number or battery of units and a plurality of vapor chambers to be cleaned. The apparatus consists of uprights 1 of steel or other suitable material upon which are mounted horizontals 2 shown as'I beams in the drawings. Above the horizontal supports are bed plates 8 which carry the rails or tracks 4. Positioned `on the track and carried by the ianged wheels 5 is a carriage or truck 6 which has mounted thereon a tripod arrangement or support shown at 7 which carries the rotatable casing 8 which bears upon the upper roller bearing 9 and the lower roller bearing l0. lVithin the rotatable casing is a sleeve 11 which may be raised or lowered by means of mechanism hereinafter explained.

Vithin the sleeve is a shaft 12 screw threaded throughout a portion of its length Renewed April 6, 1929.

in order that it may be raised and lowerecL by a mechanism from above.

Briefly, the operation of the device is as follows: The carriage 6l is rolled along ythe track 5, the track being positioned above the vaporizing chamber such as that shown at 13. When the carriage is directly above 'the vaporizing chamber, the top closure or removable plate 14 which is bolted 011 and lserves to keep the chamber pressure tight, is opened.v The carriage is then securely attached to the rails and bedplates by means of hooks diagrammatically shown at 15 and which maybe equipped with turn .buckles in order to hold the carriage 'rigidly in place on the tracks during the cleaning operation.l When the carriage has been ixedl'y attached to the bed plate, ,the sleeve 11 which carries the inner shaft 12 is lowered by means of the motor 16 which is geared thereto through the meshing gears 17 and 18, the latter' meshing with the rack 11a machined in the periphery of the casing or sleeve, or comprising a toothed strip attached to the sleeve. v ried by thecasing 8 which is supported by the upper and lower roller bearings 9 and 10. This casing is rotated by the motorl19 carried by a support 20 attached to one of -the tripod legs 7. Upon the shaft of the motor 19 is a gear 21 which meshes withl the girth gear 22 cut in the lower portion of the casing. The motor 16 is carried by the lower enlarged portion of the casing in which the girth gear is out. On the carriage is a motor 23 whose power is transmitted through gears 24 and 25 to a gear 2G mounted upon one of the axles 27 of the carriage for moving the carriage from place y to place along the track, that is', to transfer the carriage vapor chamber to the next as it is necessary to clean the different units. On the upper part of the sleeve 11 is a bracket 28 which carries the motor 29, upon the shaft The sleeve 11 1s carp and apparatus from above one of which is lmounted a bevel gear 30. This bevel gear meshes with a second bevel gear 31 which is screw threaded to accommodate i threads` on the shaft 12. The bevel- -gear 3l is held in place by a confining arm 32 rig- Returning now to the particular operation of the mechanism, when the sleeve 1l has been lowered to a -position shown in the full lines in Fig. 2 so that the shaft and extenthe chamber, the sleeve is rotated by rotation of the casing 8 by Vmeans of the motor 19. During the rotation the sleeve is gradually lowered so that the lower edges ofthe eX- tension arms 33a cut their way t rough the substance accumulated in the chamber. As the sleeve reaches the dotted line position shown in F ig. 2, the motor 29 is utilized to l push out the inner shaft to dotted line posi- Cab tions, at which time the extension arms are spread as shown. This extension of the shaft is effected by the ymotor through the bevel gears and screw thread arrangement -eX- plained. The extension of the arms is produced by their connection with the casing vat 34 and with the shaft at 35. During the vertical movement of the sleeve and inner shaft, the entire mechanism mounted with the sleeve is rotated with the casing 8 lso that the collected substance in the chamber is completely broken up and disintegrated. With thearms now in extended position the sleeve 11 is raised by reversing the motor 16, resulting in the breaking up of the accumulated substance as the extension arms rotate .in the chamber. In this manner, this collected material may be broken into fragments and easily removed from the lower portion of the chamber from which the closure plate is removed. A

In describing the method of using the cleaning apparatus, a course has been followed in which the sleeve and boring edges are first lowered and caused to cut a'circular that it may be more readily removed theresion arms 33 remain collapsed' but are within,

hole through the substance bycontinuous rofrom. After cleaning the central shaft is retracted at which time the extension armsl are collapsed and 'the sleeve raised to withdraw the cutting end of the shaft and eX-" tension `blades or arms from the chamber. The carriage can then be released from the bed plates by letting go the hooks 15, and the carriage transferred' by means of the motor 23 to the next unit to be cleaned.

This apparatus is particularly-adapted to the cleaning of coke collecting apparatus in hydrocarbon oil cracking units'. When a -carbon containing oil is crackedconsiderable perature is suiiiciently high;

I claim as my invention:

l. A cleaning apparatus for disintegrating solid or semi-solid materials `in collecting chambers comprising a vertically movable element, a second element .longitudinally movable relativeto said Afirst element, eXtensioncutting arms carried by one of said elements, .means for rotating said first mentioned element, means for causingsaid second mentioned element to be elongated below the first element, land means operative upon' elongation of said second mentione element to extend the extension cutting arm 2. A cleaning apparatus for disintegrating solid or semi-solid material accumulated in collecting chambers comprising a movable means adapted to be positioned above the.

chamberto be cleaned, aivertically movableelement adapted tov be lowered into the chamber and ineans for rotating said element, a shaft and extension cutting arms mounted on said element, means foreii'ectin'g a longitudinal movement of said shaft relative to said element and simultaneously eX-` tending the arms.

3. A cleaning apparatus for disintegrating solid or semi-solid material accumulated in collecting chambers, comprising horizontally movable means adapted to be positioned above the chamber to be cleaned, including a vertically movable sleeve having' a shaft positioned therein and-means for raising and lowering said shaft relative tothe sleeve, extension cutting arms', means operated by relative' movement of s'aid shaft and sleeve for -actuating said extension arms to control the area traversed by said cutting arms.

4. A cleaning apparatus for disintegratin'g solid or :semi-solid material accumulated inf collecting'cha inbers,lcomprising a supporting member, a vertically movable sleeve mounted in said supporting member and adapted to project below said supporting member, a plurality of cuttingarms radially movable relative to said sleeve, and means forl moving said armswth respect to said sleeve.

5. A cleaning apparatus for disintegrating solid or semi-solid material accumulated in collecting chambers, comprising a supporting member, a vertically movable sleeve mounted in said supporting member, a shaft carried by said sleeve, transversely movable cutting p arms carried by said sleeve and shaft, means for operating said arms by longitudinal movement of said shaft.

LYMAN C. HUFF. 

